


Like Snakes In The Garden

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Betrayal, Canon Compliant, Kylo Ren Backstory, M/M, Past Abuse, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Protective Poe Dameron, snoke backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:28:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25864375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: What happened with Snoke before the events of Rise of Kylo Ren?
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Kudos: 2
Collections: Darkpilot Creator Breakdown, Hurt/Comfort Bingo - Round 11





	Like Snakes In The Garden

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Wild Card — Betrayal
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Part of it is my own angst, part of it is my curiosity over one line from TROKR (“Look what Master Skywalker did to you.”) that got me wondering.

It was there on the planet of Elysium that Luke dropped Snoke off. Ben watched from the ship even as Poe placed a hand on his shoulder, still reeling from the idea that someone he could have called his friend was also...that. The voice in his head who was also manipulating him. The voice echoing there, showing him parts of the galaxy that he shouldn’t have to _see,_ yet.   
  
“I’ll spare you,” Luke said. “But I’m leaving you there, if only as a way you can reflect on what you did. I instructed the other inhabitants not to harm you, and to spare you. I hope that it can be a tool of redemption, Snoke. Redemption, reparation...and healing from your own demons.”  
  
Snoke’s grin would have looked less terrifying on a firaxan shark. “Healing? I require no healing, Master Skywalker. My only crime was wanting to balance the Force itself.”  
  
“And you wanted to use my nephew in order to do that.” Underneath, Ben could practically feel his uncle’s anger — suppressed and subdued, but there nonetheless. It was like the rumble of thunder, the threat of anger at least. Ben remembered how his uncle had told him about nearly killing Darth Vader, and though it had frightened him, the idea of his uncle nearly going berserk, Ben could understand why. It had been someone he loved who’d been threatened. Of course he’d get angry.   
  
“There’s more forces at work in this galaxy than you could ever understand, Skywalker. I wanted the best for your nephew. Know that I am, at minimum, speaking the truth.”  
  
Ben could practically feel his spine prickling with terror — terror that he knew was illogical (after all, Snoke was being dropped off here. Ben was safe), but that he felt nonetheless. It hurt, thinking that in his own way, Snoke thought he loved him (not in a romantic way as much as the love of a parent for their child) and it still hadn’t stopped him from lying to Ben, hurting him (even without the flashes of blood and battlefields, Ben had been lied to). The fact Ben had been loved hadn't been enough to save him.   
  
"And those forces will lose,” Luke said. “I hope you can at least find peace, Snoke. I know you haven’t found it yet.”  
  
Poe guided Ben away from the doors of the Grimtaash just then as it took off. Ben could feel Snoke’s anguish, almost like a bellow in the Force. He swore it was still ringing in his ears when they flew back to Adani.   
  
***  
  
It felt like Snoke’s words were already ringing in Ben’s ears even as he sat with his head in his hands. _They don’t understand you,_ and _They don’t trust you,_ and _But I do._ The voices seemed to be piling up just then, and Ben didn’t know if he could even _think —_  
  
“You okay?”  
  
Poe’s voice. It was enough to temporarily distract Ben from the deluge of memories that seemed to assail him in that moment.   
  
“Can you stay with me?” Ben didn’t know how to phrase every word of his betrayal, everything that hurt. “Just a while?”  
  
Poe nodded  
  
Ben felt like the smaller one, the one being kept safe, when Poe put an arm around him. Even Jedi needed someone to lean on.


End file.
